In 2009 and years prior to that, your favourite Kinley 1 litre packaged drinking water bottle, used to have a neck finish weight of 3.90 grams and closure (cap) weight of 2.3 grams. Around that time, the Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers embarked on a Kinley Light weighting program in India that was aimed at reducing the raw material – PET – abbreviation for Poly Ethylene Terephthalate, a petroleum derivative.

When the Kinley Lightweighting project had got completed, the neck finish weight was reduced to 2.4 grams and the closure weight to 1.3 grams, thus giving saving approximately 2.5 grams per bottle (40% on neck + closure weight per bottle).

To further reduce the weight and PET content, the company began to use the Nitro Hot Fill process which allowed more stable packaging with lesser quantity of material.

The light weighting initiative even won the Global Innovation Award in The Coca-Cola Company for 2016.

Coca-Cola’s packaging process is minutely detailed and scrutinised to meet even the toughest packaging safety standards. Its quality systems require all suppliers to comply with the safety, environmental and quality standards. This includes the Food Safety and Standards Act and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognised Food Safety Management System Certification for all suppliers of primary ingredients and packaging material.

Coca-Cola’s efforts to create more sustainable packaging are expected to contribute to its overall goal of reducing the CO2 emissions associated with the “drink in your hand” by 25% by 2020.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola system in India is comprised of Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd. (CCIPL), the concentrate manufacturing entity and 15 authorised bottlers of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), which are responsible for the production of ready-to-drink, non-alcoholic beverages under the Trademarks of TCCC, their distribution and sale in the territory of India. The system also comprises the India branch office of Coca-Cola India Inc., which provides guidance in relation to development of business in India.